


at the shrine of friendship

by sightandsound3733



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-13 23:32:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7142864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sightandsound3733/pseuds/sightandsound3733
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John loves Alexander with all his heart. But honestly he could do without the constant fighting with Jefferson. </p><p>Shit gets tiring, you know?</p>
            </blockquote>





	at the shrine of friendship

There were a lot of things to love about dating Alexander Hamilton. 

His bright mind, sharp tongue, the way his eyes lit up the moment John walked into the room and honed in on him like he was the only thing that mattered in the world. Alex had zeroed his focus in on John when they were young, and while their youth had faded some, the intensity from Alex never had. 

John loved that, capitol L loved that, loved his Alexander as ardently and passionately as he knew he was loved in return. John loved when he talked with his hands, flailing about with little grace or coordination, fueled by anger, or passion. He loved how Alex sunk his teeth into things and never let go, loved how he found so many things to care about and fight for, how that was just one more thing they had in common among a seemingly endless list. 

Sure things weren’t always sunshine and roses, John’s not stupid to think they’re perfect. He knows Alex is stubborn and hard headed and that he’s just the same. He knows that Alex is almost incapable of taking care of himself, that he’ll let his health and well being shift to the wayside because he just didn't value it. He know his boyfriend has a set of wandering eyes, even if his hands belong only to John, but he does see the way those dark eyes trail as beauties walk by, he’s not blind to it.

They’re so far from perfect it’s not even a little bit funny and sometimes it comes to a head. They fight and yell each other, work each other up into screaming matches, words aimed to hurt, cut deep, instead of to coo and soothe. They fall into stony silences and fume for hours if it’s something big. But they never go to bed mad, never let the other doubt how much they care, how deep their love truly runs. John loves him, loves his Hamilton more than he ever thought possible.

One thing John did not love, was the ongoing feuds with Thomas Jefferson. 

Now, don’t get him wrong, he’ll always be the first to agree with anyone criticizing Jefferson for his close mindedness, the arrogant way he parades himself around campus, for the asinine old world 1 percenter beliefs that Jefferson wears like badges of honor, and he is the first to back Alex up in the arguments, the first one to throw his hat into the ring. That was equal parts his own integrity and beliefs as well as supporting his boyfriend. 

But he was also the one who got to see behind the scenes of the arguments, the flurry of words and anger, hot poker disdain and arrogance. John is the one who sees  Alex work himself sick preparing for debates with Jefferson, who watches and listens as Alex paces holes in the floor of their bedroom, who sighs in resignation when Alex waves him off before bed with a distracted “I’ll be in soon, I need a bit longer, this’ll crush him.”

John loved Alexander with everything he had but God, the whole Jefferson mess was exhausting. 

And never ending it would seem. 

John sighs quietly to himself, staying in the background for the time being. He and Alex had been stretched out on the quad, basking in the midday sun between classes, just relaxing quietly in each other’s company. Alex had snagged a blanket from their dorm, stuffed it in his bag before he left this morning because it was Tuesday, and John’s classes on Tuesday fucking sucked. Alex waited for John’s lecture to finish, met him outside with coffee and laid out the blanket in the sun for them both. Alex could be so thoughtful and lovely sometimes that it left John breathless. 

It was so simple and it was so nice. Alex was pliant at John’s side, murmuring sweetly between chaste kisses to his shoulder, nosing at his neck. John felt like they could stay there forever, had said as much as he threaded their fingers together, dusting a kiss to the back of Alex’s hand. Alex graced him with a beautiful smile, languid warmth spreading from the corners of his mouth to every nook and cranny of John’s joints. It was perfect. 

“There you are, Hamilton!”

And all too easily shattered. 

John bites his tongue as Alex goes tense at his side, pulls away from the warmth of their intimacy. His dark eyes go hard and the glare he aims up at Jefferson is razor sharp. John doesn’t say a word as Alex scrambles to his feet, pulling himself up as tall as he can manage, for all that it makes no difference in breaching the distance in height that Jefferson had on him. 

As is the usual pattern, they’re quick to fall into an argument. John thinks it’s about the last debate practice, something about Jefferson’s dictatorship over choosing topics maybe? He’s not sure, but it sounds like Alex is pacing through arguments he’d been muttering about last week when he’d come home, pissed and fidgety. It had taken an hour for John to calm him down, and he’d even resorted to calling Herc and Laf over to fuck around on the Xbox for a few hours. 

Here they were again though, with Alex just as fired up as he had been last week. John sighs, reaches for his coffee just at the edge of the blanket and sits up straighter, sitting cross-legged. Jefferson sneers down at Alex, arms crossed tight over his chest, but he doesn’t interrupt the tangent that Alex has got going. 

Weird how he never tries to just cut Alex off, John thinks as he takes a pull from his cup, wishing it was warmer. Jefferson made it seem like he didn’t care what Alex thought or had to say, yet he never walked away from a fight. 

Someone sighs, the sound close enough to startle John’s attention away from Alex leaning up on his toes to argue some more. The owner of the sigh was a tall boy, bulky in his musculature, yet some how graceful, even though he wasn’t moving, just leaning against the thick trunk of the tree Alex had set the blanket up under. John blinks. When had Madison gotten here?

“Sorry about this,” Madison isn’t looking at John when he speaks. “You and Hamilton looked pretty peaceful there.” Jefferson laugh’s and the sound cuts through the air too sharply. It’s not a nice sound, barely sounds like a laugh at all, more of a cackle. John’s nose wrinkles at it, Madison’s lips twitch downward. 

“Not a big deal,” John sighs, leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees. “Nothing I’m not used to, you know?” He motions a hand toward the bickering duo before them. “You know how they get.”

“We both do,” Madison looks down now, turns surprisingly warm brown eyes onto John and his lips shift from the smallest of frowns to an apologetic smile that’s just as small. “I tried to get Thomas to leave it alone…”

“Nah, man. I get it,” John reassures him, offering a smile in return. “What are they even arguing about this time?”

“Do you know I’m really not quite sure?” Madison shakes his head, looking back up. John follows his lead. Alex has his hands buried in his hair, he’s almost vibrating with frustration and anger as Jefferson drawls. John catches the words “ _Not that I’d expect you of all people to understand something as sophisticated as that_ -” and rolls his eyes. Madison sighs, just as deeply as before.

Neither of them say anything for awhile, both just watching their respective boyfriends a few feet before them. John thinks about the man at his side. He didn’t know a whole lot about James Madison, mainly just that he was Jefferson’s long term boyfriend and that he and Alex had almost kind of been good friends once. He knew that Madison was quiet, that he was an incredibly smart and talented debater, and he knew that for all Alex hated to admit it, he respected Madison a great deal. Begrudging respect, but respect all the same. 

John wracks his head for anything else of note about Madison, anything at all. But for all that they were frequently in the same vicinity because of Jefferson and Alexander, they had never really spoken one on one before. John has to wonder what made today any different. And why he doesn’t seem to mind. 

“Not quite how I imagined we’d spend our afternoon,” Madison breaks their silence with words almost too quiet to be heard over Alex shouting _“Are you out of your mind?!”_ John glances to Alex, mentally gives this whole mess another five minutes tops before calling it, and then looks back to Madison. He looked tired.

“Yeah I know what you mean,” John shrugs a shoulder. “I got about an hour before I’m in class for the rest of the day,” He knocks back the rest of his coffee while there’s still a semblance of warmth left to it.

“That sucks,” Madison’s lips twist in a grimace. “Lee’s class right? He’s the only adjunct ballsy enough to schedule a class after two.”

“Yeah,” John chuckles, shaking his head. “Fucking sucks. But it’s a prerequisite for my lab hours. Just gotta suck it up you know?”

Madison hums in response, a sympathetic sound. He looks ready to say something else, turns his body more toward John to continue the conversation, when a growl from Jefferson startles them both. 

“Listen here you insignificant little bastard-!” Jefferson’s gotten closer to Alex, is all up in his space, snarling down at him. Alex glares back, fists curled tight at his side, nearly shaking with the tension of his anger. Even from his spot on the ground John can see the way his eyes just start to go glassy, can hear the fragility in his acid hot “No you listen y-you pompous fuck!”

Ah shit. 

“Yo, Alex,” John calls, hoping to at least capture his attention, draw some of the intensity of his focus away. If there was one way to piss Alex off and break him down at the same time it was the b-word. He starts to push to his feet, aiming to make his way over there. “Maybe we should-”

“Thomas,” Madison’s voice rises over his own, clear as a bell, and surprisingly cold. Startled, John looks up at him. Madison has straightened off the tree, arms at his side. He’s calm and controlled, but there’s something to the twist of his lips that makes John think that he’s actually silently seething. “That’s enough. It’s time for us to go.”

Jefferson’s eyes flicker to the side at the call of his name, whatever words he had ready for Alex falter at his lips. For a moment nothing happens, no one moves, John isn’t really sure what’s going on. And then, amazingly, Jefferson straightens up. He doesn’t look at Alex, doesn’t say anything to him, merely turns and starts to walk away. John can see how tightly he’s clenching his fists.. 

Madison sighs again, looking to John, offering another small smile. “I’ll see you around, Laurens,” his voice is soft, and then he’s walking off after Jefferson before John can even get out a response. 

What the hell just happened?

“What, you’re just gonna walk away?” Alex calls after Jefferson, still keyed up from the fight, bouncing with it. “Gonna let Madison tug on your leash? Pathetic,Jefferson!” It’s John’s turn to sigh, getting steady on his feet, faster than he’d like to, he can feel his knees crack with the movement, and the crosses the space to get to Alexander’s side before he could draw Jefferson back to the fight and make everything worse

“Alex,” John slips his hand into Alex’s and winds their fingers together once more. “Cut it out. He’s an ass, but he’s gone. Relax.”

“You heard what he said,” Alex squeezes John’s hand, holds on tight, his words grinding out from between clenched teeth. “What he called me, all that shit about me not understanding-”

“Yeah I heard,” John soothes. He gently pulls on Alex’s hand, draws him back toward their blanket. “I heard, Alex, and he’s a fucking prick. This is not news. You gotta relax now, he’s gone” He eases them down, Alex goes without much prodding. He curls into John’s side, allows John to curl an arm around his shoulders, clingy in a way he only is after his parentage is called into focus, when he’s been truly hurt by the insults that Jefferson, or anyone else, throws his way. “You’re fine, babe.”

“I know I’m fine,” Alex mutters, even as he tucks his face into John’s shoulder and holds on tight. John just hums in response, holds Alex close, traces meaningless doodles with his fingertips over Alex’s shoulder, waits for the tension to fade from his boyfriend’s muscles. 

Over the top of Alex’s head, John can see Jefferson and Madison across the quad. Madison stands before Jefferson, arms crossed over his chest, looking all the world like a disappointed parent standing before a naughty child. Jefferson is standing tall and straight, holding himself too stiffly. He’s not saying anything. Madison stops speaking, and he's frowning, waiting for a response. Jefferson's shoulders slump, his lips twist and his gaze skirts to some point over Madison's head. John’s lips quirk to the side as he sees Madison give a full body sigh before pulling Jefferson down for a kiss, one that Jefferson completely melts into. It's a short little thing, sweet from the looks of it, and Madison breaks it to speak again, smiling at Jefferson. Jefferson nods, says something with a shrug of a shoulder and pouts until he gets another kiss. Interesting. 

John's not entirely sure what just happened. From the conversation he and Madison had engaged in, simple and yet genuinely nice, to the way he’d so sharply ended the argument and drew Jefferson away, John is really very confused. And curious.

Mostly curious. 

Between Alex and school, and just life in general, John doesn’t get much time to think about the Madison and what happened that day on the quad. In fact, he forgets about it almost entirely in the days following it. 

Alex clearly has too, though John’s not sure he noticed anything that day other than Jefferson getting in his face. He’s been in a good mood after debate practices, comes home with a smile and greets John with lingering kisses. 

“Jefferson’s been tame,” Alex murmurs one night, settling into John’s lap on the couch. John hums in answer, settling his arms around Alex’s waist, holding him in place. “He kind of won’t even look at me.”

“You don’t sound like that bothers you,” John smiles, kissing Alex’s neck lightly, teasing, before biting down a little lower, directly over a spot that he knows makes Alex melt. 

“‘S nice,” Alex admits, words already slurring a bit as he sinks into the attention and affection. John smirks, sucking over the spot, teething at it just hard enough that Alex's voice breaks with a soft keen. A nice dark bruise, he decides, that’s what Alex needs right there. “I don’t gotta listen to him talk. Weird though.”

John hums in place of words again, tucks the information away for later, and focuses on Alex falling apart in his arms. He’ll think about Jefferson when his boyfriend isn’t warm and malleable in his arms, clearly in need of some attention that John is all too willing to provide. 

He’s pretty sure it has something to do with what Madison did, and while still confused about the whole thing, John’s grateful. 

Which is why he doesn’t hesitate to pop into the campus Starbucks to grab a third coffee when he gets a text from Alex about Jefferson being “At it again!!!” while he was on his way to meet him after debate practice. John keeps it simple, just a black coffee, grabs some creamer and sugar from the little bar near the door and then heads off. 

The door to the lecture hall the team uses for practice is propped open, and John can hear Jefferson and Alexander from up the hallway. He’s not surprised, the week or so of calm had been nice, but completely unprecedented, and he hadn’t expected it to last. 

John walks into the room with little concern, he’s sat in on practices before, walked in in the middle of them completely. He hardly doubted anyone would mind him showing up at the end while it was just Alex and Jefferson hashing shit out. 

Alex is at the front of the room, smirking at Jefferson, clearly pleased with whatever he’s got going argument wise. Jefferson is fuming already. They stand at opposite ends of the debate platform, at separate podiums. John pays them little attention, scanning the room instead until he finds the top of James Madison’s head. 

Madison is sitting in one of the front few rows, and John almost laughs aloud how done he looks with everything. He suppresses the urge, lets a smile settle on his lips and slips into the seat at Madison’s side. 

“Yo.”

“Hello Laurens,” Madison offers a smile. "Shall I fill you in on what you’ve missed?”

“I think the real question is do I wanna know?” John sets the cardboard tray of coffees down on the floor, lets his bag slip from his shoulders. Madison heaves a sigh, runs a hand down his face wearily. He’s too young to be weary, they all are, and yet John feels as though he’s done exactly what Madison is doing right now, right down to the tenor of the sigh.

“Well Thomas opened the floor for practice topics, and Hamilton jumped in with quite a few, and some of them were fine. Some of them…” Madison trails off, hesitant to continue.

“Some of them were definitely designed to piss Jefferson off?” John suggest, opening his bag to pull out the little packets of sugar and creamer. He plucks the coffee he’d gotten for Madison from the tray, straightening up in his chair. “Yeah, I can tell you right now some of them were.”

“I expected as much,” Madison sighs again. Jefferson slams a fist down on the flat of his podium, Alexander just starts talking louder to compensate for the noise. John tunes long enough to hear Alex’s well practiced speech about the gentrification of New York city. Oh yeah this was a classic topic off the “Things to make TJeff’s head explode” list. 

“Sorry about that,” John offers the coffee out to Madison. “I didn’t know how you took it, so I just went classic dark roast.” 

“What?” Madison blinks at the coffee cup being held out for him. “Oh. I didn’t… You got me coffee?”

“Yeah,” John shrugs a shoulder. “To help with the headache they were sure to give you. And to say thank you.”

“Thank you?”

“I don’t know what you said to Jefferson, but whatever it was helped. Calmed things down,” John sets the coffee on the armrest of the chair before handing over the creamer and sugar packets. Madison takes both, looking a little dazed.

“I didn’t really do anything,” Madison looks down at the coffee, holding it between both hands. “Just told him he took it a step too far with Hamilton that time. You really didn’t have to do this...”

“Still,” John shrugs a shoulder, smiling. “Thanks for saying anything. Let me know if I can return the favor.” He sits back in his seat, snagging his own coffee and taking a sip. Alexander chooses this moment to attempt to jump up onto his podium, practically frothing at the mouth, and almost landing chin first and knocking out his teeth. John sighs, leaning down to grab the last coffee, Alex’s Americano, and looks to Madison as he gets up, lips canting up in a smirk. “This won’t count toward it.”

“Huh?”

“Just watch.”

“What are you-” Madison can’t even get the words fully formed before John lets out an ear splitting whistle, holding the third coffee in the air. Alexander’s attention flickers way from Jefferson and immediately he perks up, eyes going all alight. Warmth settles happily in John’s chest at his boyfriend’s instant attention. He loves that boy, absolutely loves him.

“Alex, I’m way more interesting and attractive than Jeffy-boy over there, and I brought you coffee. Practice is over, come show me some love!” John calls, grinning wide and bright. Jefferson splutters at the interruption, starts to say something as though he thinks John is actually gonna listen, and Alex just laughs. He doesn’t even hesitate before abandoning the argument, sliding out from behind the podium, and he makes a beeline right for John. 

Behind him John can hear a chuckle from Madison, low and amused, and the faint sounds of sugar packets tearing. One, two of them, and a splash of one of the creamers. John slips that into his memory before focusing solely on his whirlwind of a man. 

“Didn’t see you come in,” Alex coos, jumping down from the raised stage and into John’s arms.”Hi. I love you, hi, coffee?” 

“Pay the man first,” John laughs, holds it just out of reach and puckers his lips, just to tease. “You know what you owe me.” It earns him an eyeroll from Alex, but it also gets him a kiss, warm and gentle. “Hi. Miss me?,” John kisses Alex’s forehead. A soft chuckle choruses behind them and he grins a little wider.

“Stupid question. I miss you every minute that I’m not by your side ” Alex, smiles over the rim of his cup, eyes liquid, near overflowing with clear happiness. John’s heart stutters and swells. He leans down for another kiss, lingering in it for a moment, long enough for Alex to press against him, his free hand curling in the front of John’s hoodie.

“Mhmm, love you,” John murmurs, smiling when Alex whispers the words back to him as he tries to press into another kiss. John indulges for a moment before pulling back, cupping ALex’s chin when he whines at the loss. “Easy baby. I’ll kiss you all you want when we’re home. But first we gotta get there, and get you something to eat.”

“I ate,” Alex pouts, looking up at John, cupping his coffee with both hands now. “I did! Madison tell him I ate!”

“He did,” Madison pipes up, reminding John he was there at all, that other people existed outside of Alex. “Walked into practice halfway through a muffin. Which is barely food, Alex.”

“And thank you Madison,” John grins, looking over his shoulder at his- friend? Were they maybe friends? Whatever. He smiles at Madison, grabs his bag from the chair and slings it over his shoulder. “Home, food, kisses. Let’s go Ham.”

“So demanding,” Alex rolls his eyes, but John can see the smile before he hides it away with his coffee. 

“You love it,” John kisses Alex’s cheek, looping an arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders. Alex hums in response, leans into the embrace, waving a lazy hand over his shoulder at Madison. John laughs and shoots Madison a grin. “See you later man.”

“See you,” Madison chuckles, toasting them both with his coffee. There’s a smile on his lips, small and yet incredibly kind. It’s nice to see, makes John feel like he’s doing something right. Maybe they were friends after all. 

John steers Alex away, just as Jefferson jumps down off the platform to join his own boyfriend. He rolls his eyes when Alex and Jefferson trade heated glares, but Alex doesn’t try to do anything else, too content with his coffee and with John at his side. He hears Jefferson scoff, hears him pad over to Madison’s side. 

John has to duck a smile into Alex’s hair as he hears a confused “James when did you get coffee?” as they leave. 

Yeah, this might just be the start of something great. 

**Author's Note:**

> There might be more to this? I don't know. Maybe. 
> 
> Hope you liked it!


End file.
